Tape-needle.



No. 699,|53. 'Pafented May 6, I902.

T. A. cunns. V

TAPE NEEDLE.

(Application filed July 6, 1901.)

"(No Modal.)

Fi ch INVENTOR? Y TiFifiTHYA-(LURTE:

WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TIMOTHY A. ounrrs, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

TAPE-NEEDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,153, dated May 6, 1902.

7 Application filed July 6,1901. Serial No. 67,264. (No model.)

' To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, TIMOTHY A. CURTIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Pick-Up Needle and Ribbon- Tube for Machines for Inserting Ribbon in Lace; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to numerals of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My present invention has reference to a novel construction of needle to be employed with machines or apparatus for the purpose of inserting ribbon or tape in lace; and the invention has for its primary object to provide a combined needle and ribbon or tape receiving tube forming a part of. the said needle, through which tube the ribbon is drawn and can be inserted in the meshes of a piece of lace of any desired length, the lace having been previously gathered or picked up by the needle proper and passed over said tubular portion, which is connected with the me dle, from the end of which it is withdrawn, so that the lace or tape will be inserted in the meshes of the lace.

A further object of this invention is to provide a simple and convenient form of pickup needle and tubular member therefor, by means of which the ribbon orv tape can be more easily inserted inthe loops or meshes of long pieces of lace and lace edgings without {the least danger of distorting or soiling the ace.

Myinvention therefore consists in the novel construction of combined needle and tubular ribbon portion, all as will be hereinafter more fully described and then finally embodied in the clauses of the claim.

My'novel construction of combined needle and ribbon-tube is especially adapted with that form of machine for inserting ribbon in lace illustrated and described in an application for Letters Patent previously filed by me on May 11, 1901, Serial No. 59,790.

The present invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of a machine for inserting ribbon in lace, the said view also representing in connection therewithmy novel form of combined pick-up needle and ribbontube. Fig. 2 is a side view, on an enlarged scale, of the combined pick-up needle and ribbon-tube, said view representing in connection therewith the first step of gathering the lace upon the needle portion and inserting a portion of the ribbon in the tubular part of said needle. Fig; 3 is a similar view of the said combined needle and tubular part of the needle, the said view representing the next step in the operation of inserting the ribbon in the lace. Fig. 4 is a combined side view of a portion of the pick-up needle and longitudinal vertical section of the tube through which the ribbon is passed. Fig. 5 is a vertical cross-section taken on line 5 5 in said Fig. 4, and Fig. 6 is a similar crosssection taken on line 6 6 in the said Fig. 4..

Fig. 7 is a detail view representing one end of the ribbon-tube with the lace being removed from the outer portion of the tube and the ribbon being withdrawn from the inner part of the tube and at the same time inserted in the meshes or .loops of the lace.

complete form of device or apparatus made according to my previous invention set forth in the said application for Letters Patent ing it upon the needle, from which it is in- Qserted into the loops or meshes of the lace in the manner to be hereinafter fully described. The construction and the operations of the various parts of this machine, as well as the its operative position, are clearly illustrated and described in my said application hereinabove mentioned, and therefore need not be further described here.

The combined. pick-up needle and ribbon- I00 filed May 11, 1901, Serial No. 59,790, for the purpose of gathering up the lace and arrang manner of retaining the pick-up needle in tube comprising the principles of my present drawings.

. sired width, is fed from a suitably-placed reel invention is indicated by the referonce-numeral 2.

The numeral 3 indicates the main body of the needle, which is provided'at its free end with the pick-up or point 4, preferably bent, as shown, for gathering the lace directly upon the body 3 of the needle from the feeding rolls or wheels of the apparatus 1. The opposite and solid end of the said body 3 is arranged within the tubular end portion 6 of a tube 5, being positively secured in said end 6 by means of solder or in any other desired and suitable manner. The said tube 5 is provided with the free open end '7, and near the point where the tube 5 and the needle 3 are connected the said tube is provided with an opening 8, preferably in the upper surface of the tube, as illustrated. In practice the length of the said'tuhe 5 is practically equal to the length of the needle-body 3; but this is not an absolute necessity, and the lengths of these parts may be varied, if desired.

The needle-body 3 is preferably made cylindrical, so as to have a circular cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 5, and the ribbontube 5 is preferably of an oval or elliptical cross-section, as indicated in Fig. 6 of the The manner of using my novel form of combined pick-up needle and ribbon-tube with an apparatus for forcing the lace upon the needle is as follows: The needle-body 3 is held between the grasping or holding jaws 10 and 11 of the standard or pedestal 9 of the machine 1 in the manner set forth in my previous application, Serial No. 59,790. Before starting the machine the ribbon 12, of the de- 13 into the opening 8 in the tube 5, then passed through said tube and drawn out from the open end 70f the tube, and the end of the ribbon 12 preferably fastened to a second reel 14. The ribbon 12 is then cut at a suitable point above the opening 8 in the tube 5 and then laid over upon the tube, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The machine 1 is now set in operation, and the lace 15 is picked up by the pick-up end 4 of the needle-body 3, and a large quantity of the lace is gathered upon the needle-body, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2. The next step in the operation is to clamp the pick-up end portion of the needle in the holding device 16 of the machine in the manner described in my said application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 59,790, and remove the needle-body 8 from its clamped position between the holding-jaws of the standard 9. The lace is then pushed from the cylindrical surface of the needle-body 3 upon the outer surface of the ribbon-tube 5, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, with the severed or cut end 17 of the ribbon 12 arranged in the several meshes of the lace, as shown.

This severed l end 17 of the ribbon is then withdrawn from the meshes or loops of the lace at the point indicated by the numeral 18 in said Fig. 3 and sewed fast to the end 19 of the ribbon on the reel 13. The end 20 of the lace and the portion 21 of the ribbon (see Fig. 3) are then tightly grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the operator and the lace and ribbon pulled off in a direction toward the reel 14, upon which the lace with the now properly inserted ribbon is reeled, as indicated in Fig. 7. When a sufficient quantity of the lace and inserted ribbon has been completed and has been withdrawn from the tube 5, the ribbon 12 is again out and the several steps in the operation hereinabove described are repeated. In this manner the long tube 5 properly guides the ribbon and keeps it fiat, and it can be easily and quickly inserted in the loops or meshes of the lace and reeled upon the reel 14 or other device in a perfectly flat and good condition without any danger of having distorted or unnecessarily pulled the lace.

I am aware that changes may be made in the general arrangement and combination of the needle-body and ribbon-tube without departing from the scope of this invention. Hence I do not limit my invention to the eX- act arrangements and combinations of the parts as herein described and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A combined lace pick-up and ribbontube for machines for inserting ribbon in lace, consisting, of a needle'body, and a ribbontube attached to the one end of said needlebody, the said tube being provided with a hole near the point of attachment of the said ribbon-tube to said needle-body, the said hole extending through the side of the said ribbon-tube into the tubular portion of the said ribbon-tube, into which a piece of ribbon is inserted and passed through the said tube, substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

2. A combined lace pick-up and ribbontube for machines for inserting ribbon in lace, consisting, of a needle-body having at one end a curved pick-up for gathering lace upon said needle-body, and a ribbon-tube secured to the other end of said needle-body, said tube having an oval or elliptical shape in cross-section,and said tube having an opening near the end of its attachment to the needle-body, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of July, 1901.

TIMOTHY A. CURTIS.

Witnesses:

FREDK. C. FRAENTZEL, F. H. W. FRAENTZEL. 

